Just Close Your Eyes
by captaindynamite
Summary: Jason Reso's life has become nothing more than one fight after another. After losing his belt and being transferred to Smackdown, can anyone bring him out of the depression he's found himself falling into?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I wanted to write for Christian, and so I went with this idea. Hope you all enjoy! I own no one, Vince McMahon does.**

Jason Reso stood in his locker room, his hands wrapped loosely around the ECW champion belt. He stared at the reflection of the belt in the mirror, the shining of the metal as the light bounced off of it. He sighed lightly, looking up at his face in the mirror. He was alone, completely alone. He had no one by his side, only himself and his belt. He longed for the feeling of a friend again, hell, he longed for Adam to come back. He stared at his reflection once more, remembering back to the old days. The old days, is that what they were now? He frowned faintly, and turned from the mirror, tired of it all. Tonight things would change, whether it was for the better or not, Jason wasn't positive.

He walked to the ring in silence, his belt secured tightly around his waist. He kept his gaze forward as he passed the others, refusing to speak a word to anyone. He stopped at gorilla position and waited, listening to the roar of the crowd just outside of the curtain. He stepped out to his music, doing his regular entrance, a fake smile on his lips. He stood in the ring as his opponent came out. The Moscow Mauler, they called him. Vladimir Kozlov was his name. Jason had gone through many nights of pain that was inflicted by the man that stepped into the ring across from him.

The bell tolled in the distance, and Jason began to fight, urging his aching body to continue on. He fought his heart out, giving his fans, his peeps, the show they begged for every night. In the end, he managed to snag a victory over him, but the victory was small lived. He was overlooked, Jason was sure of that. ECW was going down rapidly, and even he, the ECW champion, couldn't keep it from happening. He walked into the back, his body aching as he walked, keeping his head down. He slipped into his locker room without a word to the others, and changed into his regular clothes. He left the locker room silently, heading for the back door. The desire to slip out the back and disappear into the dark was strong, but he was stopped short by Tiffany, the general manager.

"Hey there Jason just thought I'd inform you. You'll have a match with Benjamin before the pay-per-view to give the fans a taste of what you two will be like on Sunday, good luck!" she said before leaving him. Her words stayed in his head as he walked, echoing throughout his mind. Sunday would be the day he would have to clamber up a ladder and pull down the belt, his belt. He had to once again defend his championship reign, a reign that was only four or so months old. He climbed into his car and sat there, staring out the window. He was going to lose, he knew he was. Sure the decision hadn't been made yet for the storyline, but he knew it was going to work over that way. They wanted the new talent to hold the belts, not someone that had been around the block a time or two.

The roar of the engine broke his silence, but it didn't matter to him. It was just a dull sound in the background as he drove back to the hotel. He went to his room in silence, not even noticing his peeps as they crowded around him, each of them begging for an autograph or photograph. He collapsed onto his bed that evening, and drifted off to sleep to the sound pattering of rain outside of his window.

That's how his life was now, he realized as the days wore on. The pay-per-view loomed in the horizon, and Jason found himself growing more and more eager for it to just be over with. He had sat through a meeting with Tiffany, and found that he was indeed going to lose his belt. He didn't know how to let that affect him. Tiffany tried to make him see it for the best, but Jason refused. Even when he was told he would taken over to Smackdown as part of their roster. He knew if it had been years ago, he would have been overjoyed for the change, but now, he didn't really care. They didn't need to bother trying to make him happy, it would continue to slip into his state of mind, until someone saved him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Onward we go! I own no one in this story, Vincent Kennedy McMahon does, or whatever. Hehe.**

Tonight was his last night, his last being champion, and his last being on ECW. He stood in the middle of the empty ring, staring up at the empty seats that would be filled with fans later on that night. He felt his heart twinge with pain, but he couldn't bring himself to weep or anything over leaving. A solitary sigh left his lips as he looked around, his hands dug deep in his pockets. For four or so months, this had been his home after leaving TNA. He had felt welcomed here, he was loved here, and yet at the same time, he was empty. He longed for a companion again, someone that would always be at his side no matter what. Sure he had Denise, his wife, back home but that wasn't the same. He needed someone that could be on the road with him, and he wouldn't subject her to that. Tomorrow everything would be different. Tomorrow he would be on his way to Smackdown. He stared up at the seats once more, a solitary tear running down his cheek briefly before he wiped it away, leaving the ring.

The match was rough for being his last one. Instead of having him be sent out with a newbie or anything similar to that, he ended up having his last match against Tommy Dreamer, one of the very few people he spoke to since coming to ECW. They hugged briefly after the match, and then it was over. His time was over, he had to leave and he didn't know if he would ever be back to the show that he had once called home. His sleep was rough that night, his mind plagued with dreams of present, future, and past. He awoke early the next morning, and dragged himself out of bed, deciding to get himself ready for the flight. He hated flying on planes, but it was the only way he could get from where he was to where Smackdown was taping.

The flight was uneventful, although Jason wasn't all that shocked. He wasn't even bombarded by fans. He wasn't sure, but for once it didn't pain him to not be noticed. He preferred to slink back into the shadows and watch those around him, watch them go about their happy lives without a care in the world. He arrived at the arena late that afternoon, and climbed out of his car, sighing gently. Today would be the start of his new life in his new home on a new show. He entered the building quietly, wondering if he would attract any attention. His thoughts were answered though as he neared catering.

"Jay!" he heard a familiar voice shout from the room. He turned and saw Chris Irvine, a close friend of his running towards him. He groaned faintly as Chris threw himself against Jason, hugging him excitedly. He hugged him back lightly, and then pulled back, looking at Chris. "It's so great to have you here!"

"Hey Chris, yeah I guess so," he said lightly, not really sure what to say. He stepped back some from his friend, glancing down at the floor briefly. He knew Chris would see right through him, but he hoped that maybe Chris wouldn't notice anything was wrong with him. Of course, he was dead wrong.

"What's wrong?" asked Chris, placing his hand on Jason's shoulder, trying to look him in the eyes.

"Nothing, I'm just tired," he responded, a lie that came so easily to him nowadays. He grinned slightly at Chris, shrugging shortly after. "I'm going to go see Teddy then get to my locker room before my debut tonight, I'll see you later," he commented before leaving Chris there and heading down the hall once more. He ignored the few people in the hall, making his way towards Teddy's office. He stopped out front of the door and knocked, sighing faintly.

"Come in," came a voice from the other side. Jason opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind himself. "Mr. Reso it's good to finally have you here on Smackdown," said Teddy, holding his hand out towards Jason. Jason shook his hand briefly before returning it to his pocket. "We got your debut all taken care of. You'll come out during one of Jericho's promos as an interruption. Since everyone knows you're coming here, we're not going to do anything big," he mused, waving his hand absentmindedly. Jason nodded, and then left the room once he was allowed to.

The halls were quiet as he walked, making his way to his new locker room. He paused outside of the door, his hand lightly running over the name Christian. He sighed and walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. He changed into his ring attire then sat down in a chair, staring at the floor as he thought over his first night on Smackdown.

Meanwhile, Chris stood outside of catering, his gaze still stuck on the direction that Jason had headed. He knew there was something wrong with Jason, he had known the man for a while and since they were close he could tell when something was wrong with him. He sighed and pulled out his phone, flipping it open. He pressed a number on his phone, the number set as speed dial for the one person he knew could cheer Jason up. He listened to the ringing for a moment before a voice came on the other end.

"Hey man, do you think you can make it out to the next Smackdown show?" questioned Chris automatically. He didn't see a need to explain his reasoning now. For now he just needed this person to come out to see Jason.

"I'll be on the next flight," responded the person on the other side before hanging up. Chris smirked to himself. One way or another, he was going to make Jason feel better, he mused as we walked down the hall, the smirk dominant on his lips.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Onward we go. I own no one in this story, Vince does or they own themselves, however that works out.**

His debut was nothing compared to what he would have cared to have happen. During the opening scene of Smackdown, Chris had gone out and was once again talking about how he was the best in the business at what he did, and continued to call the fans names like 'germ incubators' and various other forms of that. Jason couldn't understand how Chris could pull off being a bad guy so well. He knew the real Chris better than most, and yet Chris still had another side to him that Jason had never seen before. When it came time for him to interrupt, Jason walked out to his music and the thunderous cheers of the crowd. He found himself smiling inwardly at the reaction he got from the crowd as he walked to the ring, microphone in hand as he went about his part, questioning Chris' motives and what not like he was suppose to. It was then decided that they were to have a match later on that night before the show went to a commercial.

Jason stared at himself in the mirror of his locker room, his hands running absentmindedly over his waist where he would have had his belt. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but he missed being champion, he missed having that large belt around his waist. He missed ECW. A soft grumble escaped his lips when a knock came to the door and a stagehand appeared at the door, telling him it was time for his match. Jason walked out of the locker room, not paying attention to those around him as he walked out to the ring, doing his regular entrance with a fake smile on his lips.

While Jason was out in front of the crowd, Chris snuck into Jason's locker room with the surprise person he had for Jason.

"Just wait here until after the match," he said before walking away, hurrying to gorilla position as his music began to play. He walked out to the ring, doing his own entrance and then the match started. Chris had actually forgotten how good Jason was at wrestling, and was shocked that Jason managed to pull two near falls on him. In the end, Chris managed to pull the win over on Jason but it was definitely one of their best matches yet.

Walking backstage, Chris walked with Jason to Jason's locker room, talking animatedly about their match that they had just finished. Jason tuned him out for the most part, wanting nothing more than to be left alone. He opened the door to his locker room, not looking up until he heard a noise from the couch. Slowly, Jason raised his gaze from the floor to the face of the person that had just risen from the couch.

"A-Adam," said Jason slowly, rubbing his eyes to see if maybe they were just playing a trick on him. When he opened his eyes again, and saw that Adam was still there, he ran the short distance across the room and threw his arms around his best friend, hugging him tightly. The force of Jason running at Adam caused both of them to fall back on the couch with a groan from both of them. Chris left the room shortly after, figuring the two of them wanted to talk in private.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still out on injury," questioned Jason, pulling his body off of Adam's and sitting next to him on the couch. Adam looked over at his best friend, smiling brightly at him, chuckling lightly.

"I am, but since I'm not on crutches or anything anymore, the company has me out on promo type things. I just did one recently with Eve, and after getting a call from Chris about how depressed you looked, I decided that it was about time I came to see you," he responded, shrugging.

"Depressed? I haven't been depressed," he lied, turning his head. He knew Adam could see right through him. After all, they had been best friends since fifth grade and could practically be considered brothers. Adam looked over at him, raising an eyebrow when he heard those lying words come out of his mouth.

"You're such a liar. I know you better than anyone in this whole damn arena, now tell the truth," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Adam could almost always tell when Jay was lying and now wasn't any different.

"I don't want to talk about it Adam, please," he said softly, turning his head away from the man that had been so close to him for so long. Before Adam could say much else, the door to Jay's locker room opened and a swarm of other wrestlers came pouring in, each of them wanting to talk to Adam. Jay rose from the couch amongst the crowd and grabbed for a shirt from his bag. He threw it on, then grabbed his bag and left the room, not wanting to be surrounded by all those people. He didn't want to see all those people, he wanted to see Adam but it seemed word had gotten out about Adam being around, and Jay couldn't take handle it.

He walked out to his car and climbed in, starting the engine and driving back to the hotel. Sure it was a bit early to be leaving the arena, but Jay had no reason to stick around. Well, Adam being there was a reason to stick around but not with all those other people there. Jay sighed heavily as he climbed out of his car, dragging his bag along with him. He went up to his room silently, and plopped down on the bed, his eyes falling shut shortly after.

Jason was sleeping pleasantly until a loud series of knocks at his door woke him up. He grumbled softly, and got up off of the bed, staggering towards the door. He opened the door and yawned softly as he looked up at Adam smiling down at him. He stepped back and let Adam walk into the room before shutting the door behind them. Adam walked over to the bed and sat down, looking up at Jason.

Without a word, Jason walked over to him and sat next to him, staring down at the floor. They sat there in silence for a moment or two before Adam wrapped an arm around Jason's shoulders. Jason glanced up at him, sighing heavily before he broke down into a soft crying state. Adam pulled Jason closer to his body and hugged him tightly, letting his friend cry as much as he needed. He didn't understand what was bothering Jason, but he wasn't about to question him about it. After a few minutes, Adam pulled Jason further up the bed so he was lying on his back with Jason lying next to him. Jason fell asleep after a little bit, his crying having worn him out. Adam soon did the same, both men were thankful for having their best friend at their side.


End file.
